1st XI vs Woodford Wells CC, 1st XI

Another impressive performance from the 1's saw us brush aside Woodford Wells in the first of the time-format games. Playing at The Shen, this was our first return fixture of the season, having played Wells last week in a match that was subsequently abandoned through rain.

Wells had been fancied as promotion rivals at the start of the season, but having lost two games already, it was imperative that they got something out of today. Dave won the toss and elected to bat, the lure of a 25 point victory was too tempting to ignore. A change in the opening pair saw Jack Plom relegate himself to number 4, and Tom Ballington jump into the opening slot. A loose ball from Gareth James in the first over set the tone for his bowling as he took himself off after two overs of utter dross. In between though, Tom Arnold's stay at the crease lasted only four balls as he was given out to a ball that myself and my fellow scorer were not sure that the decision was for LBW or caught, as we both thought that he had not hit it. Ryan Plom came in at 3, and hung around for eight overs before becoming the wicketkeeper's second victim with the score on 67. The score had reached 91 when Jack was adjudged LBW for 13. Whist batting, Tom was able to hit his first 50 of the season from 36 balls (11 x 4's), treating some of the bowling with absolute disdain.

He had reached 55 when he became the fourth batsman to fall with the score on 107. He was soon followed by Caleb Seleka (19) and Tom Austin (13), and with the score on 135-6, we were in danger of letting the visitors back into the game and get the rest of the team out cheaply. Will Howard and Ronnie Jackson had other ideas as they steadied the innings and put on an 88-run partnership that not only took the game away from Wells, but left them deflated. Several dropped catches during the innings didn't help as Ronnie raced to 48 from 39 balls before being caught on the boundary. Will was playing the anchorman innings and watched as Sam Bear came and went, before reaching his fifty in the 42nd over, having faced 79 balls (5 x 4's, 1 x 6). He was the ninth wicket to fall with the score on 249, having joint top scored with 55. The last pair of Jamie Walton (33 n.o) and Dave Hickey (8 n.o) put on 32 unbeaten, and it summed up their bowling when Dave was bowled, only for the bowler to be no-balled! A score of 281-9 was a more than competitive score. Wells were not helped by their skipper injuring his back and not being able to bowl.

The opening three batsmen for Wells weren't given the time to settle as Sam took took two wickets in two balls in his first over and Tom Arnold took a wicket in his second over to reduce the opposition to 5-3 in the first sixteen balls of their innings, thus making their chances of a chase null and void. Although there then followed a partnership of 61 for the fourth wicket, three wickets in three overs saw Wells slump to 76-6 and a heavy reliance on the lower order to stick around for as long as they can. Two of those wickets had fallen to Caleb and the other to Jack. These two bowled in tandem for the rest of the game, restricting the batsmen to nervously eke out runs where available. Whilst the nagging line and length of Caleb kept them on the defensive, it was Jack who kept tempting them and was rewarded by taking the final four wickets to finish with match figures of 7.4-0-38-5 to see is home by the winning margin of 165 runs and only half of the overs bowled.

A positive outcome and performance from all involved. Our next match sees us travel up the road to Old Brentwoods and a chance to put another promotion hopeful to the sword, if we can keep our performance levels to this standard.